The Ghost of Tungurahua

After a few more days in Quito, I´ve finally made my way down to Baños. Though I enjoyed my time in Quito, it is nice to be in a smaller town with clean air.

Baños is a strong center for tourism in Ecuador. The town name literally translates to baths. There are a couple of centers where thermal waters are directed into pools of varying tempartures. Today, we went to la piscina de la virgen baños. They sit under a beautiful waterfall that flows from one of the surrounding mountains. The hotest pool was 48 degrees celsius. After leaving the bath, your body is ready for eating. Muy caliente.

In addition to the baños, much of the tourism is based around ´extreme´sports. The commercialization of 'extreme' notions usually envokes cynicism for me, especially in a country with much poverty, but one of the 'extreme' shops played an integral role to my experience today. It all starts with a volcanoe.

Tungurahua is the most active volcanoe in Ecuador. It towers over Baños. The volcanoe last erupted in 1980. In 2006 Baños was evacuated due to activity. However, the volcanoe never erupted. The people, frustrated with their lives being put on hold, demanded to re enter the town after about 6 months of waiting. Since 2006, many people have made claims Tungurahua will blow anyday. Regardless, Baños still is occupied. Many tourists view the volcanoe in 'extreme' ways, such as taking 4 wheelers close to the top.

Earlier this afternoon, i had lunch with some European friends i met in my hostel. They were all going on a 4 wheeler ride up the volcanoe and were persuading me to come along too. I first thought i wanted no part in a 4 wheeler ride due to money and principle. However, I am in Ecuador for an anthropologic, independent study entitled 'the power dynamics of tourism.' So, on a second thought and in the name of anthropology, i went on the 4 wheeler ride up Tungurahua. Despite the akward feeling of speeding by poor country sides on noisy gringo machines, it was a good time.

Where the road ended about 2 or 3 kilometers from the top of Tungurahua, we walked around the cooled lava fields left from the last eruption. They were eerie, yet beautiful. Every so often rumblings were heard of small burst from the volcanoe. However, the summit was unfortunately covered in fog. Our guide explained that there is a Ghost of Tungurahua. The lava is the heart of the volcanoe, and when people get close, the ghost covers the Tungurahua in fog to deter viewing of the volcanoe´s heart. Sure enough, when we started walking away from the lava fields towards our 4 wheelers, the coulds started to thin. Because the view was getting clearer, our guide said the ghost was jealous. Fortunately for us, the ghost's jealousy gave us a quick view of the smoke clouded summit. It was an amazing yet fleeting site.

The experiences of Baños, Tungurahua, and other places and people in Ecuador has given me much to think an write about with tourism. I hope to post these thoughts later. For now, I have to run! I'm catching a bus to riobamba tomorrow to see friend Amanda. Hope all is well wherever you may be!